NYC Family to be Honored by iSchool

September 28, 2017

The Orange spirit is apparent the moment you meet the family. There are Syracuse signs in the pool house, an SU tissue box in the family room, SU references in the Wi-Fi names, and you can’t bring up the school without at least one member of the family knowing exactly who or where the story is about. Finding a Syracuse Orange family in New York City isn’t hard, but finding one more proud of their Orange roots than the Rosen family is certainly not easy. “We bleed Orange,” says David Rosen, ‘11 G’12. “We’re living vicariously through family friends who are going to Syracuse now and love it.”

Alice and Bruce both attended Syracuse from 1979 to 1983 where they met freshman year in Sadler; Alice graduated from the School of Education and Bruce from the School of Management. Their son David graduated Syracuse with both undergraduate and master's degrees, his undergraduate a dual degree with Whitman and the iSchool and the master’s from the latter. All three currently reside in the New York City Metropolitan region and are regulars at Syracuse University events around the city. But the way David describes it, this was never part of the original plan. “I have pictures of myself as a baby in Syracuse clothes, and as a kid, I just wanted to do my own thing,” explains David. It took Alice and Bruce’s insistence to even visit Central New York the way David tells the story.

“We were driving back from other college visits and my parents kept talking about how they hadn’t been back to campus in forever, how they just wanted to walk around the school and how it would be good to visit campus. So we stopped at Syracuse and went to admissions and there I met the first admissions counselor who didn’t ask me what career or what major I wanted to have. She asked me what I liked to do and what I was really into. That led me to the iSchool and from that point on I was sold on Syracuse.”

Since then, the entire Rosen family has been committed to being involved with their alma mater. Alice serves on the Board of Advisors for the School of Education, Bruce is the treasurer for Syracuse University's Hillel, and David has served in several roles with Big Apple Orange, the Syracuse University Alumni Association in New York City, and is currently serving on the Generation Orange Leadership Committee. “My family has been volunteering as long as I can remember,” says David. “We’ve met so many friends through working with our different parts of SU, it’s really snowballed in so many great new ways for us.” The Rosens truly embody the Orange Spirit,” says Pam Mulligan, Executive Director for Alumni Engagement. "Working with David on events for the SU Alumni Club of NYC over the past year, I knew instantly that his heart was in the right place in making Syracuse a better place for alumni, for students, for parents, and for future students who strive to go to SU. The Rosen Family makes us all proud to be Syracuse Alumni offering their true and honest commitment to continue to make Syracuse University a leading research institution for future generations of ‘Rosens’ and for all families. They are a family with true Orange pride, dedication, and commitment.”

All of this will culminate in a special moment for the entire family. This year at the iSchool’s Alumni Awards & Recognition Ceremony, the Rosen family will be honored with the Dean’s Award, given to individuals who have demonstrated exemplary service to the iSchool or University. Awardees have achieved broad recognition for extraordinary creativity, advancement of knowledge or technology, performance, or the advancement of mankind through application of their Syracuse education. “Every single undergraduate student at the iSchool is impacted by the Rosen family, whether they’re aware of it or not,” says Jeff Rubin, Professor of Practice at the iSchool. “Due to their generosity, all Road Trips and Immersion Experiences expenses are heavily discounted to lessen the financial impact on the student." “The iSchool has been a second family to us. We’re very honored and very touched,” says David. "We talk all the time about one faculty, one school, one student body and the Rosens are a deep part of that because they’re family,” says Rubin. “They care deeply about the school’s direction, growth, students, and us.”

The next time you’re at a Syracuse basketball game in MSG or at an Alumni Engagement event, keep an eye for a family of three in Orange gear who just seem to know everyone, and go say hi. The Rosens love to meet new people and love to hear everyone’s Syracuse story. “We’re definitely not shy about it,” says David. And New York City is all the better for it.